The Prodigal Son
by Moonphase
Summary: Ace is estranged from his family. However, tragedy brings him back home and into the life of Aerrow. Aerrow is only five years old and is the only child of Ace's sister. Together, unwilling uncle and nervous nephew have to navigate their way through this new relationship. AU Slice of Life Kid Fic


The night was black and windy.

From his seat at the kitchen table, Ace stared out into the back garden, his hands cradling a bottle of beer. On the table were globs of spaghetti and red sauce. On the floor were the remains of a smashed plate amongst several toy cars and a few toy soldiers. Behind him, stuck on the door of the loudly humming fridge, were several pictures by a small child. The images were of stretched out caricatures of people, each image labelled either mom, dad, grandpa or grandma. All the drawings of the family had big smiles on their faces or, if pictured together were holding hands with the sun shining in the background.

Ace took another swig of his beer.

There were no pictures of him.

In their back garden was a large tree. Ace remembered when it had been small and thin. His parents had planted it in the garden when he and his sister had been children. It was for him and Robyn to watch grow. It was huge now, he could hear its branches beating against the side of the house like an angry giant.

"Uncle Ace?"

Ace turned to see a small figure in the doorway. Aerrow was the absolute spit of his dad, but he had his mother's eyes. Robyn's eyes. He was wearing a green all-in-one, his hair was mussed and his eyes were red from crying.

Ace took a swig of his beer.

"I'm scared," the boy whimpered.

"It's just a storm," sighed his uncle.

"There are ghosts in my room."

Ace closed his eyes. The anger from their earlier argument was still simmering. He wasn't a nice man, he wasn't kind. He was no good to this child. He was toxic. He just wanted to be left alone.

He opened his dark green eyes and looked back to the boy. "It's ok," he muttered, "come sleep with me ok?"

Aerrow's eyes widened, "Ok," he cheered happily.

Getting up, Ace swooped down and picked up the child. Aerrow was cute, warm and small and so forgiving. He snuggled into Ace's arms, already drowsy. Ace took him up the narrow stairs and across the dark hallway, pausing for a moment outside Aerrow's bedroom. The night light was on.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to bed?"

"I wanna stay with you," the boy whined, cringing closer to Ace.

"Ok, ok…" he hefted the boy up more securely into his arms before continuing to his own room. It had been left much the same as it had been when he was a teenager and still living at home. It was weird that his parents hadn't gotten rid of it; they obviously hadn't expected him back because they'd been the ones to tell him not to return.

He put Aerrow in bed before getting ready himself, then going under the blankets. "There's no such thing as ghosts Aerrow," he stated, lying stiff and rigid as he stared at the ceiling.

He felt his nephew curling into a hug next to him, as if desperate for any kind of affection, "I know," he answered.

xxXXxx

Aerrow opened his eyes. It was very early in the morning. The room was pale and light. He turned his head and looked at his uncle. Aerrow really wanted to wake him up and ask him to make breakfast, but Ace was a weird guy. He was always cranky and liked beer.

Aerrow hadn't even known he had an Uncle Ace until a few weeks ago.

He'd been staying at Miss Kingsfisher's house. She'd been a really nice lady who looked after a whole bunch of kids who were just like him. She hadn't minded when Aerrow had spent the first week crying and hiding in different places. After a time he was able to play with the other kids and even smiled now and then. She let him know that smiling and being happy was ok, even if your parents were dead.

Then, one day, she'd told him that his Uncle was going to come and look after him. At first he thought it was going to be Uncle Carver, but then instead Ace showed up. Uncle Ace was not how Uncles normally look. He had been wearing a lot of black and his eyes were really wide and it looked like he had been crying. His hair had been a real mess and he stared at Aerrow like he was an alien or something.

It had been pretty awkward, but then Miss Kingfisher had said, "well Mr. Noir, here he is. Aerrow. Aerrow, say hello to Uncle Ace."

Aerrow had said hello politely. Then Uncle Ace had gotten down on one knee and drawn Aerrow into a hug. That had been really strange because Uncle Ace didn't seem to know how to hug; he was sort of stiff and stilted, so hugging him was like hugging a manikin. Aerrow hoped to help him learn, but Uncle Ace didn't seem to like hugging much generally. He didn't seem to like touching much generally.

Aerrow missed hugs. Mommy and Daddy hugged him all the time.

He stares at Ace's sleeping face. Ace kind of looks like mommy sometimes. He has her nose and the shape of their faces are similar, though Uncle Ace's is thinner.

Aerrow sighs, then snuggles in next to his uncle again, enjoying the warmth. Ace was weird, but there were good things about him too. He wasn't as bossy as mom and dad had been, he was less fussy about Aerrow clearing away his toys (though he got mad when he stepped on them) and was pretty happy to let Aerrow do stuff on his own, such as going and playing outside. Once he even told Aerrow to go to the shop on his own to buy sweets, though even Aerrow knew that was dangerous. He had asked Uncle Ace, 'what about stranger danger?' which had made his Uncle blink, as if he'd never thought about that before, before going and putting his jacket on. Uncle Ace had even held his hand on the way to the shop that day.

So Aerrow knew Uncle Ace loved him, but he just had a weird way of showing it. Or maybe wasn't very good at showing it.

Another thing about Uncle Ace that was different to Mommy and Daddy was that Uncle Ace got up really late. When the alarm began to beep, Uncle Ace swore loudly, making Aerrow giggle in embarrassment.

"Meh?" grunted Ace, "are you already awake?"

Aerrow popped his head up, bright eyed and beaming, as he nodded at Ace.

Ace rolled his eyes, "how can you be so awake already? It's barely eight am."

"The sun is shining," Aerrow chuckled, "that means it's time to wake up."

Ace sat up and stretched before looking down at the young boy who was now snuggling into Ace's old warm spot.

He felt an odd rush of fondness. "Let's go get breakfast," he said, "then if you're good we can go to the park."

"Yay!" screamed Aerrow with unnecessary volume, leaping out of bed and running downstairs.

Ace slumped back onto the bed with a sigh. He blinked slowly, his eyes burning with tiredness. He wasn't used to getting up so early, but had quickly learned that he couldn't sleep into early afternoon anymore because he had a child to feed and entertain.

He eventually rolled out of bed. Heading downstairs he saw that Aerrow had already turned on the television and was singing along with some stupid cartoon he loved. Ace poured out some cereal and walked back into the living room, placing the bowl in front of Aerrow who ate it messily and without much attention, all his focus on the cartoon.

Ace sat back, unable to eat so early in the morning but sipping a cup of cheap coffee. God, he needed a job, at least enough to buy some decent coffee. He rubbed a hand over his face, feeling the scruff on his cheeks and chin. The cartoon was about school kids who turned into sailors with super powers and who saved the world from villainous pirates who owned a flying ship. It was fucking ridiculous how well he knew this cartoon now; he knew all the characters' names and even was a tiny, tiny bit invested in a budding romance between the lead boy and the Female Love Interest.

He never dreamed this would be his life one day.

The cartoon ended and Aerrow had eaten all his cereal. Ace got him upstairs and had him wash his face and essential areas before stepping in the shower quickly whilst Aerrow watched another dumb kids' show; one which had a grown man dancing around dressed as a flower and singing about the sun. Aerrow loved that guy. Ace was disturbed by it and found he couldn't tolerate it as much as 'Super Saving Sailors.' Getting out the shower he decided to shave as quickly as possible. He probably didn't do a great job.

He went back downstairs to see Aerrow wearing odd socks and a jumper on backwards. "Come here," he ordered. The boy obeyed and Ace helped him out. Aerrow was still learning to dress himself properly. Ace needed Aerrow to be more independent now; before he'd had both parents and one set of grand-parents helping to raise him. Now he had one incompetent uncle.

He looked at Aerrow and resisted ruffling his hair. Instead he stood and said, "let's go."

"To the park?"

"Yeah."

It was cold out. Autumn was settling in and the neighbourhood was ablaze with reds and golds and browns and oranges. He held Aerrow's hand, the kid skipping along and slowing their progress. It didn't bother Ace as much as it used to though he let out a sigh now and then when he had to keep taking baby steps instead of his usual long-legged strides. Aerrow talked incessantly, of his cartoons and what he thought about the characters and which character he liked the most. He then began to sing the Flower Guy song. Ace said nothing, letting the kid get on with it.

They turned and went into the pharmacist. Aerrow began to whine, "hey, I thought we were going to park!"

"We are. We need to go here first."

"No! The park! You said!"

"We're still going. But I need to get something first. Stop complaining or we won't go."

Aerrow silenced himself, but a distrustful frown marred his face. Ace couldn't blame him, he supposed, he had lied to the kid before.

It was cool and dark in the pharmacy, without the usual white, bland brightness that most modern ones had. He supposed that this pharmacy was still in the past; it was a local pharmacy that had been run by a family for the last four or five generations. The walls were brown and aged. The tiles on the floor beige faux marble. It was clean and tidy though, and despite the ugly colour scheme came across as homely. Maybe it was because it was a part of his childhood. He and Robyn hadn't gotten ill too often, but this pharmacy was always the one they were taken too. As far as he knew the next pharmacy was all the way in the city. Maybe it was also because the bright, white pharmacies that were more common now were part of his adult life; the one without his family and before Aerrow; one that was filled with craziness and drama and a girlfriend who was toxic and friends who were worse.

He picked up a newspaper, an energy drink and his prescription. The clerk was a tall thin man with pale ginger hair and even paler blue eyes. He looked like the guy who used to work here when Ace was a kid, though that man had been short and squat. The Clerk stared at the prescription bottle, before giving Ace a once over, deciding he looked fucked up enough to need this sort of thing, and handed it to him. Lazy blue eyes of the clerk looked across to Aerrow. Quiet, questioning judgement was there. Ace felt himself bristling. He grabbed the brown bag and turned from the Clerk.

"Come on," he then said, taking a hold of Aerrow's hand again, "we'll go to the park now."

"For real?"

"For real."

Aerrow beamed.

xxXXxx

Aerrow ignored the park apparatus for jumping in puddles. Ace wanted to yell at him to stop but was feeling too lazy. The peace between the pair was fragile and he wanted it to last a little longer. With a shaking hand, he uncapped the bottle of pills and took two with his energy drink.

It was cold and he desperately wanted a cigarette. They were too broke to afford things like cigarettes and he figured it was probably the responsible thing to give up anyway, now that he had the kid. He opened up the paper and began to search the job listings. He had used the internet like most people, but it had been switched off two weeks ago, so now he was having to do this the old-fashioned way. It was probably for the best; on-line there were too many bullshit jobs that went nowhere.

Ace had no qualifications. Not proper ones that meant anything. It's the thing that had really killed the relationship between himself and his mother.

He remembered being sixteen and refusing to get out of bed. She had sat on the side, begging him to please get up and go to school, that he had exams, that he was clever and could make something of himself.

"Honestly Ace," she had cried, "I don't know where we went wrong with you! What is wrong with you?"

He had been convinced that his teachers were all after him, that there was this conspiracy against him. He'd sat down his parents and explained this to them very carefully. They'd laughed and he'd gone to bed and didn't bother getting back out for a week.

He remembered hiding under the blankets and soon realised she'd gone quiet. He'd risked peeking out of the blankets to see her staring up at his pin-board, complete with all his evidence of the conspiracy. She looked confused and was crying.

He remembered that, maybe sensing him watching her, she'd turned to him and he'd spat out, "if I died, you wouldn't even care."

Sitting in the park he took another gulp of his energy drink wishing it was a whisky. Aerrow was looking at the slide, clearly scared of its height but wanting to go on it.

'If his family were still here,' thought Ace, 'they'd go over and speak to him, tell him that's it's ok to be scared but he should go up the slide anyway. That he can be brave.'

He took another sip of his drink and watched Aerrow skip away to the monkey gym instead.

There was a job in the paper that he could actually do as they didn't need qualifications or experience, just somebody willing and available. However, it was working nights, so he wasn't sure how he'd manage it with Aerrow? Maybe if it was enough he could hire a baby sitter? Teenagers were cheap, right? Now, how would he go about getting a teenager to babysit every night for the foreseeable future for less than minimum wage?

He pulled a face. Yeah right.

His mom's face appeared to him again. The one that was filled with confusion and sadness. The one that became shocked, and deeply disappointed after he'd said those words to her. She'd look at him like that now. Dad would look at him like how he did when he first found him slumped over the toilet seat, snot and sick on his face and the stink of cheap alcopops swirling in the air.

His sister…

He sighed, the sadness welling up to incomprehensible depths, leaning forwards his put his head in the palms of his hands. He breathed slowly, through his nose and out of his mouth. Just, breathe the bad thoughts away. Mindfulness, right? Ok, focus on his feet on the ground then-

"Uncle Ace."

He looked up.

Aerrow was staring at him with wide eyes, "look," he held up a red leaf. Ace looked at it, not seeing the relevance of one leaf in a park covered in the damn things. He frowned and shrugged. Aerrow lowered the leaf, looking embarrassed and awkward.

"I…um, did you wanna keep it?" asked Ace.

"No," Aerrow dropped it on the ground, his voice thick and wobbly, "it's stupid."

"It's not stupid."

"It is!" Aerrow's screech ricocheted around the park.

Ace gritted his teeth. Aerrow's mood swings drove him insane. He had no idea how he was going to cope when this kid became a teenager.

He stood, folding the paper under his arm.

"Ok, let's go for a walk."

"No!"

"Aerrow!" he was about to really lay into the kid when a woman walked passed with her own two children. All three of them stared.

Ace watched them pass before bending down to look a now sniffling Aerrow in the eyes, "look, don't start acting like a baby-"

"I'm not a baby!"

"Then stop screaming like one!" he yelled, aware that he was being a hypocrite.

Of course him yelling at Aerrow was the final straw and the inevitable happened; Aerrow let out an almighty shriek and threw himself to the ground, kicking and punching whenever Ace tried to pick him up. Ace ended up kneeling on the filthy ground watching Aerrow getting covered in mud and leaves as he screamed and writhed on the ground.

"Aerrow stop it! Stop it! Calm down! Calm down!" Ace got a punch to the face with an angry tiny fist and a kicked inner thigh. He managed to put his hand somewhere near Aerrow's face, meaning he suddenly was bitten. Ace let out a howl of pain, sounding like Tom from the old Tom and Jerry cartoons, only this wasn't funny. It was just embarrassing and horrible. He fell back on to his ass and glared at Aerrow as he gripped his hand. God, he so wanted to just give Aerrow _one good slap_. He let out a grunt, no, no, he wouldn't hit. Instead, he felt all the fight go out of him. He just sat there like a dummy watching Aerrow screaming himself hoarse on the ground.

When they had been little, Robyn had thrown fits. She'd have these huge tantrums where she'd storm around kicking things or would even rip her own clothes. She'd grown out of it to become a beautiful, intelligent woman who was a functioning member of society. He'd always been calm, according to their parents. He'd been a daydreamer growing up, staring into space, completely lost in his own universe. Where Robyn got all her crazy out nice and early, he'd been saving his up. And when Ace finally had released his madness on the world, it had been one hell of a thing to see. Well, he assumed it had been, he didn't remember much of anything from the last decade.

Aerrow was still now, but choking on his tears.

The boy sat up, sobbing. He crawled over to Ace and sat on his lap, still angry with Ace but wanting a hug. Ace grimaced and leaned his head back. This kid always wanted comforting, like a baby.

He allowed little arms to encircle his thin flank, Aerrow rubbing his face on his t-shirt and probably getting snot all over it. Slowly, Ace put his hand on Aerrow's head and gave it a rub. This act of kindness bought on more sobbing.

"Excuse me Sir is everything all right?"

He could hear the polite authority in the woman's voice and he cringed. Without looking up he knew it was going to be a police officer standing there looking at him.

Ace looked up.

Yeah, there she was. A tall police woman with large green eyes and a short shaggy hairstyle.

"Yes," he said tiredly, "everything is fine. My kid had a tantrum. That's all."

She gave him a once over much like the Clerk had earlier. "Your kid?" she asked, disbelieving.

Ace was aware that he had something of a seedy look. He seemed like the type who'd hang around outside of high schools trying to sell weed and chatting up under-age girls.

He stood up. "He's my nephew." He held Aerrow in his arms, Aerrow now with his arms wrapped tightly around Ace's neck.

"Oh ok," she looked behind her.

Ace frowned as he watched her movements.

There was something familiar about this woman.

"I have a witness who said there seemed to be a lot of commotion. She said the young child seemed very distressed."

He sighed quietly and glared into the distance, remembering the lady who passed by them earlier with her two kids.

"He had a tantrum, ok? I haven't kidnapped him or whatever you think I've done. He's my nephew. My name is Ace Noir I used to live here, and my nephew is Aerrow Strike, son of Robyn and Lightening."

Her eyes were very wide, "A-Ace?"

He frowned again, "um, yes…"

"I thought I recognised you," she said a little breathlessly. He noted a high blush was beginning to colour her face. She seemed unable to look him in the eye. Oh, now he recognised her.

His memories came flooding in of school, (a place he always tried to avoid remembering), of a pretty shy girl who always blushed and stammered in his presence. She was usually loitering around hiding. She was nearly always alone. But she was nice. She was nice to him. He often had been tempted to kiss her because she was just too adorable, but he never did.

"Skylar?" He asked, "no, um, Star? No."

"Starling," she corrected quietly and in a resigned fashion, "we went to school together."

"I remember," he said, feeling Aerrow shuffling about in his arms so he could turn and stare at the lady. "You became an officer?" He was stunned. He looked her up and down, making her shuffle a little anxiously. She'd always been active in sport, but never competitive enough to really kill it on the field. Back then she'd been really skinny, under-developed even. Well, she was fully grown now, much curvier and heavier than when she'd been a kid, but she looked toned. She looked like she could possibly beat his skinny ass. Obviously Starling had been working out. It looked good on her.

"I've always liked helping people," she shrugged, "I only became one recently. It takes a while to get in to the Force, but I finished my initial training last year." She smiled at Aerrow who was peeping out at her nervously.

"Hello little guy," she smiled, "are you feeling better now?"

Aerrow nodded, blinking a few times to add to the cute factor. Ace rolled his eyes, he was still pretty pissed off at Aerrow, especially now he was talking to some foxy girl he'd known from the past, but was covered in crap from off the floor and had snot on his top.

Things went quiet for a moment, as she looked at the floor and bit her bottom lip, much like she had in school. Ace tensed, recognising That Moment was about to happen.

"Look," she said, turning her eyes to his chin. She was back to being unable to look him in the eyes, "I heard about Robyn and your mom and dad. I'm sorry. So you're looking after their son now?"

"I'm the next of kin," he shrugged, glad That Moment had at least been reasonably brief, "so me and Aerrow have been living back at the old house for about a month."

"Cool, well, welcome back."

"Thanks."

She shifted slightly, uncomfortable. "Well, maybe I'll see you around?"

'You should ask her out,' his mind said, 'go for coffee or something. She's still cute. She's nice and normal and what you need.'

"Yeah, maybe," he said, moving Aerrow in his arms so he was more comfortable. He didn't date women like Starling, and he especially wasn't dating a cop. And there was no way a woman like her would want a man like him.

"Ok," she said, a slightly sad smile on her lips, "See you around. Bye Aerrow."

"Bye!" the kid called, his voice clear and loud.

Recognising that he was obviously out of his funk now, Ace placed Aerrow back on the ground. The boy stood unsteadily before looking up at his uncle.

Ace zipped up his jacket. "So how about that walk?"

Aerrow smiled and nodded.

xxXXxx

They walked home slowly, both muddy and sore. Aerrow was humming something cheerful to himself.

Ace thought about Starling and his inability to ask her out, which then led to thoughts of past girlfriends. Well, Flames really. Ace didn't really have relationships. Not like the ones you seen on films or television. He'd lost his virginity when he was too young and during an emotional hurricane. Since then, all his hook-ups with women followed the same pattern of being short, shallow and sexual. He had no female friends, he wasn't even sure how to talk to them in a platonic manner, even if he wanted to. He had wanted to be friends with Starling as a kid. He just didn't know how.

They reached their house and began walking up the path to the front door.

"Hey neighbour!" was a yell.

Ace froze. He'd avoided speaking to the neighbours as much as possible. He knew he'd made quite an impression on people as a kid so didn't want to speak to anyone who had known him. He also didn't like people much generally, so even if the neighbours were new and didn't know about him or his past, he didn't want to speak to them.

Aerrow, however, was leaping up and down waving. Ace looked to his left a saw a handsome blond man standing in the garden next to theirs'. The man, tall and muscular, came over to them with a grin.

"Name's Harrier." He held out his hand and Ace shook it suspiciously. They were not the sort of people who spoke to each other; Harrier was Captain America, Ace was Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.

"Ace," he answered at length.

"And I know young Aerrow here," said Harrier, gesturing to Aerrow. His face then turned sombre and Ace mentally prepared himself for the usual platitudes.

"I'm sorry, about what happened," began Harrier, "If you ever want to talk, my door is always open. I was very fond of your sister and parents. Lightening was a great guy too. He was very good with young Aerrow here. Steller family, really were part of this community. I used to say to my wife all the time, 'families like ours, we're the pillars of community. We're what keeps society ticking.' You know? We go out and work, we have kids, prepare the next generation of workers and good consumers. Consume to help the economy and because, hell, we all like nice stuff. But consume responsibly as well. Not like the scum that suck the rest of us dry or the wild cards up in the Big City wasting all our hard-earned savings. You get where I'm coming from?"

Ace shrugged, "sure," he muttered quietly as Harrier continued over him.

"Robyn and Wren, my wife, they used to hang out on occasion. 'Let the girls have their fun,' that's what I say. But not too much fun, can't have Marta hanging around her friends all night. By the way, if young Aerrow here ever needs baby-sitting, Marta's the girl for you."

Ace blinked, "um, sorry who's-?"

"My daughter," barked Harrier, before chuckling, "come on, gotta keep up son! Marta, my daughter. She needs something to occupy her mind and time. Her mother says she's at that age now. Becoming a woman. Scared the hell out of me, I'm not going to lie. I said, 'she's becoming a woman? She doesn't even shave her legs or pits yet!' Which for some reason sent Marta flying out of the room in tears. I don't know why. But teenagers! It's what they're like. I would have thrown Marta in with Robyn and her mother, but with Robyn's unfortunate passing I figure, hey, babysitting for Aerow! It'll give Marta something to do, teach her to be responsible because I'll be damned if she blossoms in to a woman just to get knocked up straight away by some skinny ruffian with too many tattoos. Not you son, I see you have a lot of tattoos and you're on the skinny side, but I mean other teens, you know? So anyway, it'll also be good because a young man like you needs to run out and lock down a wife, quickly! You got a handsome face, in a way, and gals like that sort of thing! 'Be confident,' is what I say because that's what women go for. You see all these schmucks weeping on the internet to their boyfriends about how they can't get a girl because they're too nice or too poor. Bull-crap, mind my language, but it is. All about confidence. And swagger. Gotta go back to nature, beat the proverbial chest like a gorilla, if that makes sense. You get what I mean? It's a metaphor. And a simile. Or something. Hell, I was no good at English, but I was confident. It's how I got my Wren and I locked her down, married her in less than a year of meeting her! It's what needs to be done. You can do it. Anyone on the scene?"

Ace shook his head.

"No, no I guess not," Harrier looked Ace up and down.

"I am looking for work," said Ace quickly before Harrier went on another stream of consciousness. "So I'll need someone to watch Aerrow then. Might involve night shifts though…"

"Well that shouldn't be a problem on non-school nights. Any otherwise Aerrow can stop at our house! Wren would love to have a little person running about the house again. What do you think Aerrow?"

Aerrow, who'd long ago lost interest, suddenly looked up with a 'hm?"

"Staying with Aunty Wren and me some nights, would you like that?"

Aerrow looked up and Ace who was no help as he just stared down at Aerrow. Aerrow settled for a shrug, which was good enough for Harrier.

"Well there you go! You go get a decent job Ace, best one you can with all the tattoos and stuff and we'll help out."

"I can't pay you right now but…" began Ace, not liking the situation he was now in but feeling helpless to stop it.

"Of course you can't," barked Harrier, "you're a bottom feeder, no offence. But you'll get there son, with our help. It's our way of honouring your sister, parents and brother in law. Talking of, we didn't see you at the funeral…"

Ace felt himself growing taut and tense, like a string on a violin. "I was…away…at the time. I didn't know about what had happened until sometime later."

"Well I'm glad you're here," he smiled at Aerrow before looking back at Ace, "it's good for the boy to stay in the community."

"Well, Aerrow is part of the community's pillars," supposed Ace, which made Harrier laugh.

"Exactly, glad you get it son."

xxXXxx

Inside the sanctuary of their home, Ace helped Aerrow take off his outdoor things.

"Why did he keep calling you son?" asked Aerrow almost immediately, "I thought grandpa was your dad?"

"He was," answered Ace, "that guy is probably the same age as me. It's just how some people talk. It's called being condescending."

"Condi…conde…con…that's a big word."

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. Do you know Marta, the girl next door?"

"Yup," answered Aerrow.

"Is she nice? Do you like her?"

"Uh-huh. She waves to me sometimes and she and her friends say I'm cute."

Ace smirked. Aerrow was cute. "So you wouldn't mind her being your babysitter?"

Aerrow shrugged, "I'd rather you."

Ace paused, blinking a few times before looking at Aerrow. "Really? Are you sure? Why?"

Aerrow shrugged.

"Well," Ace paused again, "well ok. Well, I need to work you know? But it'll not be a lot. You'll see me in the day."

"What about when I go to school?"

"Well, that's not for some time yet. I may have a new job by then. Don't worry about it."

Aerrow let out a tired sigh, "I always worry."

The little boy walked away to his bedroom to play, Ace watching him with concern; kids aren't supposed to worry.

xxXXxx

Ace scanned the paper again. The job was shit. Working in a 24-hour superstore in the city. Minimum wage. Long hours.

But it was the only one he could apply for.

With a sigh he picked up the phone. The whole thing was relatively painless. The interview was done over the phone instead of him having to go in and was done then and there. Apparently he's done well enough to get to the next round, doing a free shift to see if he was the right man for the job. To Ace it just sounded like they wanted free labour, which he resented. However, he felt he had no choice but to go along with it. Before he would have refused, he never would have worked in some crappy superstore, but now he had a child to think of.

His trial shift would be on the following night. He hoped Harrier wouldn't mind him spring Aerrow on them so quickly. He pushed his feet into his trainers and went outside, quickly making his way to Harrier's house. Harrier was no longer in the garden, instead fresh, neat piles of leaves stood alone. Ace glanced at his own front garden. It was carpeted in leaves. He wondered if he should follow his neighbour's example and tidy them up, but he didn't see the point. Plus, he liked their colour. He knocked on the door, pristine and white unlike the cracked dull blue one he owned.

A slightly chubby lady with ash-blonde hair opened the door and gave him a hard look.

"Hi, I'm Ace, from next door."

Suddenly she looked friendlier, "ah, Aerrow's Uncle! I must say you look very young!" She lowered her voice to a sympathetic whisper, reaching out and gripping his arm, "how are you coping?"

"I'm ok," he answered stiffly, embarrassed, "actually, um, your husband said you wouldn't mind babysitting Aerrow for a night."

She looked suspicious again and retrieved her hand from his arm, "oh, have a lady round do you?"

"No," he answered sullenly, "it's a job."

Again she brightened, "Oh good. That's no problem at all. When can we have the little man?"

"Tomorrow night is my trial shift, so if you wouldn't mind?"

"He'd be welcome. I adore Aerrow and we've babysat for him before, you know, when Robyn and Lightening needed time for themselves and their parents were too busy or unavailable. We love to help."

Ace allowed himself a brief, genuine smile, which seemed to take her aback but not in an unpleasant way. She smiled, looking away almost coyly, "well, I must get going."

"Yeah, thanks again Mrs-?"

"Mrs Guardian."

He allowed himself another smile, which she returned, before walking away. He heard the door close behind him.

Had he been flirting? Fuck, he hoped not. He liked Harrier and wanted to get on with his neighbours, not cause unnecessary drama.

He walked back into the house, kicking off his shoes and deciding to start on lunch when he saw Aerrow sitting on the stairs. The kid was ghostly pale, his eyes wide and tearful. Aerrow shot up when he saw Ace, as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Aerrow?" asked Ace, feeling his heart pounding in worry, "what's wrong?"

"I thought you had left me," the boy whispered, then he began to wail. Ace ran over, scooping up the boy in his arms and going over to the settee. He was such an idiot. Why didn't he tell Aerrow he was going out?

"I was only next door," he said, "sorting out babysitting for you."

Aerrow continued to shake and cry, hugging Ace tightly.

"I would never leave you Aerrow."

"I make you angry," the boy sniffled between sobs.

"Everyone makes me angry. But," he leaned down, resting his chin on Aerrow's head, "you are my favourite person out of everyone."

He felt the boy shuffling beneath him, the crying now stopped. He sat up so Aerrow could look up at him. Aerrow's eyes, so green and so like Robyn's, shined up at him. "Really?" asked Aerrow, "you like me the very best?"

"Yep."

Aerrow beamed then asked shyly, "will…will you be my best friend?"

Ace smiled, feeling weirdly shy himself, "yeah, sure thing."

Aerrow laughed and the two sat on the settee together a bit longer before bellies began to grumble. Laughing the pair made their way into the kitchen. They made sandwiches and Aerrow sulked because he wanted chocolate spread but they didn't have any, only old turkey slices and a bit of cheese. However, he cheered up when Ace promised to buy some if he got the job at the supermarket.

"I like you having that job now," Aerrow stated around a large bit of sandwich.

"Even though it means me working nights?"

"Yep."

"Good."

They spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out. They watched a film about a baby bear losing his shoes and going on an epic adventure to find it, learning about the true meaning of friendship in the process. Ace had fallen asleep halfway through, which annoyed Aerrow. The only way Ace could make up for it was by actually playing a game with Aerrow. He had no imagination anymore, so playing with toys was out of the question. What did happen was a game of Hide and Seek which quickly grew into a tense, exciting game which left them both slightly hyper and excited.

"Gotcha!"

Aerrow let out a terrified and happy shriek from his hiding place under the bed.

Ace cackled and dragged him out by his feet.

"Stop, you're such a bad guy!" shouted Aerrow, kicking his feet and laughing as Ace threw him into the air before catching him in his arms.

"No way, I'm a good guy," he answered slightly breathlessly, Aerrow was small but Ace was a skinny guy so throwing the kid around was a bit of a workout for him.

He walked over to Aerrow's bed, dropping him unceremoniously. Aerrow laughed as he bounced.

"You are a bad guy," he continued, "you look like a bad guy and act like one. You're all angry and scary."

In revenge for such a slur, Ace began to mercilessly tickle Aerrow.

"Take it back!"

"Hahaha, no! Hahaha!"

"I'm an anti-hero! Say it! Say it and I'll stop!"

"Fine! Fine!" Aerrow screamed at last, tears pouring from his eyes from laughing, "You're an anti-hero."

Ace leaned back, sitting on Aerrow's small bed, and smirked.

Aerrow sat up, breathing heavily.

The pair looked similar, their hair tousled and their clothes pulled about, both flush from having run around the better part of the afternoon.

"What's an anti-hero?" asked Aerrow at length.

"It's someone who seems bad, but either their doing bad things for a good reason, or they do good things for bad reasons."

Aerrow frowned, finding that statement to be a tongue twister.

"So, do you do bad things or good things?"

Ace shrugged, "both."

"For good and bad reasons?"

"Sure."

"Is looking after me a bad thing or a good thing?"

"A good thing?"

"And you do it for a bad reason?"

Ace felt himself grow cold. His eyes dimmed. He shrugged, "yeah, sort of."

Aerrow watched him curiously, before crawling up to him and sitting on his lap. "What's the bad reason?"

"Sometimes," said Ace, "sometimes I think the reason I do it is because I was such a bad son to your grandpa and grandma, and such a bad brother to your mom."

There was a pause.

"Did you like my dad?"

"No. But I wish I did."

"Is that why you never came to see me before?" asked Aerrow, "because you didn't like my dad and 'cause you were a bad son?"

"Basically, I wasn't a good uncle. I'm still not. But, um, I'm trying."

Aerrow turned around on Ace's lap so he was facing his uncle, "you are a good uncle."

"You think?"

"Ah-hah."

"Well. Cool. Ok. Thanks." He took Aerrow off his lap and took out a backpack from his wardrobe. "We should pack for you to stay with the Guardians tonight," he said, "get your favourite toy and stuff. I'll be back by tomorrow morning. So we can have breakfast together."

"Uncle Ace?"

"Mmm?"

"Am I a good nephew?"

Ace looked up to see an anxious looking Aerrow. "Sure. We're best friends. Remember? I wouldn't be your friend if you were a bad kid. Stop worrying and help out."

"Ok!" Aerrow jumped down from his bed and began to seriously sort through his toys, ready to make the tough choice of who was going with him and who would stay behind.

XxXXxx

Ace carried Aerrow over to the neighbours. He found himself walking slowly. The weather was still light and cold. The sun setting and lighting the autumn leaves anew in red and gold.

"Today was a good day."

"It was," agreed Ace, "you'll have a nice dinner with the Guardians, so please be well behaved. Act like how mom, dad, grandpa and grandma would have wanted you to."

"Ok."

They arrived the neighbour's front door. "If you don't like it," said Ace worriedly, "don't be afraid to let me know. I can always figure something else out. Ok?"

"I've stayed with them before," smiled Aerrow, "they're nice."

Ace found himself relaxing a little, "ok," he breathed, "ok."

He rang the doorbell.

A pretty young girl answered it. She initially looked bored but taking in Ace her eyes widened. She stared.

"Are your parents in?" asked Ace at length, "I have Aerrow here. I'm his Uncle."

The girl blinked, snapping out of it, and blushed. "Oh, hello," she giggled and looked away, "hi Aerrow."

"Hi Marta!" Aerrow stepped over the threshold and Ace felt his heart jump a little. He bent down, holding Aerrow suddenly and even placing a kiss on his head.

"I'll see you tomorrow Aerrow."

"I _know_ ," said Aerrow, "you said. See you tomorrow."

"Ok…ok…"

"Do you want to come in?" asked Marta, her eyes wide, "we have a roast."

Ace debated. He really didn't want to leave Aerrow; what if he hated it, what if he was upset? Ace wouldn't be around and it would take ages to leave the city to get back to the 'Burbs to comfort his nephew!

"I can't," he conceded, "I need to go to work. Look, Marta, let your parents know how grateful I am. Here," he handed her a piece of paper, "that's my mobile number," (he ignored her squeak and deepening blush,) "call me, any of you, if you need me."

"Ok," she smiled, "we'll take good care of him."

"Thanks. See you. Nice meeting you Marta."

"You too," she sighed, almost melting as he walked away. Ace glanced back a couple of times, waving to Aerrow, but soon the little red-head went indoors, no doubt seduced by the smell of dinner and wanting the warmth.

Ace felt a little bereft on his journey to work.

He guessed the kid really was growing on him.

* * *

 **A.N. Please leave a review of your thoughts on this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.**


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